I think Dionne delivers one of the best concerts and, be honest, she's got at least one hit for everyone -- because she had so many hits.

If you didn't like "Do You Know The Way To San Jose," you liked "Anyone Who Had A Heart" or "Walk On By" or "Message to Michael" or "I Say A Little Prayer" or "Don't Make Me Over" or "Heartbreaker" or . . .

If I was a singer and had a hit with "What The World Needs Now" and "Put A Little Love In Your Heart," I'd consider myself made for life because Jackie gives outstanding performances on both and those are two amazing songs.

Tuesday, March 21, 2017. Chaos and violence continue, FRONTLINE (PBS)
gears up to air a report on Iraq tonight, Iraq's PM meets with the US
President, The Mosul Slog continues, and so much more.

AA reports
a Monday evening Baghdad car bombing left at least 13 people dead and
at least sixteen more injured. The 14th anniversary of the Iraq War
didn't look any different than it did when it started.

14 years.

Millions of lives.

Trillions of dollars.

What is there to show for it?

An unpopular government based in Baghdad, installed and propped up by the US government.

And maybe if you pay for THE NEW YORK TIMES, drop a line asking for a
refund since their 'lady embed' has failed to report on any of what you
will see on PBS tonight.

And if the liar's offended by that, I stated publicly, right here, that
she had seen stuff, that reporters -- other reporters -- were talking
about the garbage she was churning out and how she was ignoring reality.

I gave you a warning, a public one. It's your own fault that you are the new Judy Miller.

Rukmini Callimachi -- may her name be spat out whenever press whores are discussed.

On FRONTLINE tonight, we should learn about the civilians -- you know,
the ones who were supposed to be rescued, the ones who were the whole
point of liberating Mosul?

Let's move over to Monday's State Dept press briefing moderated by spokesperson Mark Toner because Iraq came up.

Not at the start, of course. Because the No Stars of the State Dept Press Corps never ask about Iraq.

In fairness to AP's Matthew Lee, we should point out that questions are
probably harder for him these days since he no longer has Victoria
Nuland to feed him questions ahead of the briefings and then call on him
during the briefing so he can ask the question she assigned him. (I
love those e-mails, Matt, love them.)

Monday's briefing:QUESTION: Iraq?QUESTION: Iraq?MR TONER: Yeah, I’ll do Iraq. Go ahead.QUESTION: The Iraqi prime minister is here
with a delegation that includes the chief of staff to KRG President
Barzani, and their meetings include with Secretary Tillerson. What are
the main issues on the agenda of these talks, and what are your goals in
these discussions?MR TONER: Sure. As you noted, the prime minister is in town
with a delegation, and I think Secretary Tillerson is meeting at the
White House with – along with the President, obviously, taking part in
that meeting later today.Our goals are pretty straightforward. It’s to reiterate our support
for the Iraqis in their long struggle to defeat and destroy ISIS. We
also want to encourage them to take the necessary steps to prevent the
re-emergence of ISIS, and to – we also want to communicate our support
for a prosperous, unified, and democratic Iraq going forward.Under Prime Minister Abadi, Iraq has made real progress with respect
to defeating and destroying ISIS. What comes next is another aspect of
ensuring that ISIS doesn’t come back, and that’s dealing with economic,
political reforms, but also ensuring that we deal with some of the
tensions in Iraqi society, and also reestablish – and I’m talking about
stabilization efforts here – reestablish order, infrastructure, so that
places like Mosul can welcome back those who have fled or those who have
stayed, frankly.QUESTION: On the political reforms, I assume you have – the
building has some ideas on that. Would they include, sort of,
decentralization of authority and power within Iraq or what --MR TONER: Yeah, I mean, some of these things are well known
with respect to our concerns, but again, we feel that Prime Minister
Abadi has been, so far, shown himself to be a willing partner. He’s
tackled some of these reforms himself already, so we’re positive going
forward that he’s going to take additional steps.QUESTION: Iraq?QUESTION: Can I stay on Iraq?MR TONER: Yes, let’s stay here.QUESTION: Just a follow-up on Laurie’s question. You usually
repeat this unified Iraq. Is it the message to the Kurds that sometimes
they are – especially during the spring – that they are claiming to have
an independence or separation from the – from Iraq. And that’s just a
follow-up.And the second question is going to be the – Iraq’s demand several
times – the Iraqi officials, including the Prime Minister Abadi, asking
for activating the strategic agreement with the United States. Do you
have this --MR TONER: The last part again, I’m sorry. The – I apologize.QUESTION: The Iraqi prime minister, several times, ask for
reactivating the strategic agreement with the United States. Is there
any, like, willing from your side to activate this strategic agreement
beyond ISIS, beyond military cooperation?MR TONER: With respect to the strategic agreement, I don’t
have an update on that. I think, like I said, our focus – immediate
focus – and that’s going to be obviously true with respect to the
ministerial on Wednesday and Thursday this week – is how do we ensure a
quick – how do we accelerate our efforts to destroy and defeat ISIS, but
then how do we, again, redouble our efforts to stabilize those areas
that have been liberated from ISIS.With respect to the unity of Raqqa[1],
you’re right, that is something we make a point of saying. But
ultimately, these are all internal political discussions that Iraq needs
to have with all ethnic groups resident in the country.QUESTION: Iraq – still Iraq?MR TONER: Yep.QUESTION: Thanks much.MR TONER: Sure.QUESTION: As Iraqi forces have increasingly relied on, turned
to airstrikes and artillery in their operations in western Mosul, we’ve
seen more and more reports, accounts from locals describing situations
where airstrikes hit not only houses – not only houses where ISIL is
located, but also nearby buildings, killing many civilians. Does the
United States do anything to change the manner in which these bombings
are carried out?MR TONER: Well --QUESTION: Or have they?MR TONER: Sure. I mean – again, I’d preface my response by
saying that’s something that DOD can speak with – speak to in greater
detail, but of course, whenever there are legitimate allegations of
civilian casualties, we investigate them. And I don’t have the website
in front of me, the URL address for it, but there is a website that DOD,
the Department of Defense, maintains that actually aggregates any of
these claims and follows through on them, which means it puts out a
report about the incident – whether it’s credible, whether it’s not,
what happened, what steps are taking – going to be taken to address any
civilian casualties and also amend it going forward.QUESTION: But I understand. Can I please --MR TONER: Please, go ahead.QUESTION: On their website, there haven’t been updates in the past month, if I understand it correctly.MR TONER: I think it’s – I was about to say I think it’s a monthly basis, so I don’t know. But these things also take --QUESTION: Since the beginning (inaudible) --MR TONER: Sorry, but these things also take time, obviously,
because it’s a battlefield. But in direct response to your question,
yes, when there are credible claims of civilian casualties, they’re
investigated by the U.S. military or by the Iraqi Security Forces.
Reports are made, assessments are made, and any corrective measures are
taken to avoid any regrettable incidents in the future.QUESTION: So yes to the question – the question was “Does the
United States do anything to change the manner in which the bombings are
right now carried out in” --MR TONER: I think we always – we always – so based on reports,
assessments, we would always take steps, obviously, to avoid civilian
casualties going forward.QUESTION: I just have one more follow-up.MR TONER: Yeah, go ahead.QUESTION: So in one instance, an airstrike hit a house,
killed, according to a witness, three people, severely injured a
five-year-old girl, and --MR TONER: This is in Mosul?QUESTION: -- the father said it took – yes, a neighborhood in
Mosul – and her father said it took them three days to get her to the
hospital. With that, I want to ask, what does the U.S. do to help people
exit the fighting and get help?MR TONER: I do – and I can get you more details, but
obviously, we’ve been working in conjunction with the UN, but – Iraqi
Security Forces in creating corridors to get civilians out safely. We
had set up with the UN basically refugee facilities and camps so that
those displaced by the fighting in Mosul could find temporary shelter in
the aftermath or during the fighting. That said, it’s an active
battlefield, and so obviously, it’s very difficult in some
circumstances. I don’t know the incident you’re speaking about
specifically, but that it might take some delay. I just – I don’t know
specifically the incident you’re referring to, but in general, we have
taken steps to – and frankly, the Iraqi Government has taken steps.

A bipartisan group of senators is urging President Donald Trump
to continue U.S. support in Iraq following a “forthcoming” ousting of
the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from the country. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Ben Cardin
(D-Md.), penned a letter Monday asking Trump to “continue working with
Iraq’s leaders to preserve their country’s unity and ensure its
stability.”